The court established that recovery of contraband below commercial quantity can justify bail, even in cases of joint possession.

Order :

1. This application for bail under Section 483 of BNSS has been filed by the petitioner who has been arrested in connection with F.I.R. No.188/2024 registered at Police Station Bhopalgarh (wrongly mentioned as Mathania in the impugned order dated 07.11.2024), District Jodhpur (Rural), for offences under Sections 8/22 of the NDPS Act.

2. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the material available on record.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that as per the prosecution, contraband (MD) weighing 114.80 gms. was recovered from the joint possession of the present petitioner and the co-accused persons namely Mahiram and Indrachand. Learned counsel submitted that petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case.

4. Drawing attention of the Court towards the FIR, learned counsel submitted that at the time when the petitioner was being searched by the seizure officer after complying with the provisions of the NDPS Act, contraband (MD) weighing 46.86 gms. was recovered from the right pocket of his trousers. Learned counsel further submitted that the FIR clearly indicates that the contraband recovered from the trousers of the petitioner is below commercial quantity Lastly, learned counsel submitted that the petitioner is in judicial custody; no case of similar nature is pending against him and the trial of the case is likely to consume sufficiently long time. On these grounds, he implored the Court to enlarge the petitioner on bail.

5. Per contra, learned Public Prosecutor has opposed the bail application and submitted that in the present case, contraband greater than commercial quantity has been recovered from the conscious and joint possession of the present petitioner and the co-accused persons. However, he was not in position to refute the fact that as per the FIR, the contraband recovered exclusively from the trousers of the petitioner is below commercial quantity.

6. Having considered the rival submissions, facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion on merits/demerits of the case, this Court is inclined to enlarge the petitioner on bail.

7. Consequently, the bail application under Section 483 of BNSS is allowed. It is ordered that the accused-petitioner Shrawan Kumar S/o Lalu Ram arrested in connection with F.I.R. No.188/2024 registered at Police Station Bhopalgarh (wrongly mentioned as Mathania), District Jodhpur (Rural), shall be released on bail, if not wanted in any other case, provided he furnishes a personal bond of Rs.1,00,000/- and two sureties of Rs.50,000/- each, to the satisfaction of learned trial court, for his appearance before that court on each & every date of hearing and whenever called upon to do so till completion of the trial.

8. It is however, made clear that findings recorded/observations made above are for limited purposes of adjudication of bail application. The trial court shall not get prejudiced by the same.